Progress in Robbinsdale Park

Trumps, Parker School, a 23-room Hotel, and Bustling Businesses

The year 1890 was a busy one for the Robbinsdale area. John A. Trump built a general merchandise store where the Twin City Federal Savings and Loan is today. [The bank was converted to the Wicked Wort Brewery around 2015.] He enlarged his store, selling hardware in half of it. In 1896 he bought the Custom Feed Mill from a Mr. Cannon. He paid $850 for it and operated it for many years to serve the local farmers.

He probably was most widely known for his boats and boat landing on Twin Lake. Oars, fishing poles, and bait were available at his store.
Trump served on the fire department and his bulldog took an especial delight in following the fire department to all fires. He was village treasurer for 15 years.

Mrs. Trump was active, too. She was a charter member of the Library Club and the first president of the Sacred Heart Rosary Society. Mr. Trump died in 1927. His son, John (Jack) Trump, served as Village clerk for eight years.

A new grade school was built—a necessity because of the added homes. The citizens thought the new building would be large enough for all time. The School Board, consisting of L. A. Taylor, Chairman; H. R. Stillman, Clerk; and Jarius Russ, Treasurer, authorized the raising of $10,000 in taxes.

“District 24 secured one of the finest school buildings in the state, known as the Parker School, in honor of Alfred Parker. A brick building, with stone basement and trim, elegant in design, convenient in arrangement, supplied with all modern equipment, consists of eight rooms—four large school rooms, besides cloak rooms, office, and so on—exquisitely finished in oak. The basement contains the gymnasium and furnace room. It is well graded and will probably become one of the State High Schools within the next year.”

So ran the account in the 1895 report of Hennepin County. It was heated with steam. There was a pond behind the school, especially deep in the spring, and Robert W. Girod, now a pastor living in Polar, Wisconsin, recalls a boy drowning in the pond.

There was no high school in the area until 1936 so those students who wished a high school education had to attend either North, Edison, or Marshall High Schools in Minneapolis. Students from area farms often stayed in town, working for room and board, and could then take the streetcar to high school. If they didn’t have the three cents streetcar fare (five cents by 1916), some would walk home from North High-some four or five miles.

The Hotel Georgia Temperance House, a beautiful three-story wooden structure, was erected by C.T. Griffith at a cost of $7,000. Started in August, 1890, it was ready for occupancy on November 1, 1890. The hotel was was located at 4139 West Broadway. It had 23 bedrooms, a large double parlor where meals were served family style. Many of furniture workers stayed here as well as the Seminary students after the 1895 fire.

In 1903 it was owned by J. Coulter and the name changed to Columbia Hotel (pictured above). Later it was purchased by W. D. Bartlett who remodeled it. School classes were held there during the expansion of the Parker School in 1921. It had a large front porch where elderly citizens liked to sit. In the Robbinsdale Park Progress in 1904, Coulter advertised “Special attention given to entertainment of sleighing or trolley parties from the city.” It was finally torn down to make room for a drug store owned by Henry J. Barnett. This he sold to Morris W. Henney about 1939. His son, William Henney, ran the drugstore from 1953 to 1963. It was then sold to Braun’s Bakery [which later became the Wuollet Bakery].

By 1890, in addition to the Trump Grocery Store, the Nasett and Linde Store, J. J. Coulter’s Meat Market, Christensen’s Blacksmith Shop, and Irwin’s Wagon Making Shop, the town could now boast of a Barber Shop (Mr. Mitchell), Peter Yarkanson’s Shoemaking Shop, George Swift’s Drug Store and Post Office. There were two railroads— the Great Northern, which ran south to north, and the Soo, an east to west line

Also in 1890, a physician, Dr. C. A. Donaldson, known for his gentlemanly qualities and professional skill, came and had a residence on Crystal Lake.

This post is part of a series based on the book Robbinsdale Then and Now by Helen Blodgett.